Iker Casillas - The Unsung Hero

Many consider him as the sole survivor of the dreaded Galacticos era. But the way he plays, he resembles more of Hierro rather than Zidane's and Figo's - Gritty, Hardworking, Sensible and Extremely Talented. It should come as no surprise that he shares birthday with another gifted Goalkeepr - Peter Cech. Madrid's victory against Zaragoza laid rest (temporarily) my hopes of Barcelona cutting down the Madrid lead to five points or better three points. I downloaded the goals from the match and didn't care much about the rest of the match. Accidently I got a chance to see the highlights of the match yesterday.


Boy O Boy, if it was not for this gifted player Barcelona would have cut down the lead to three points. The final 2-0 result does no justice for the way Zaragoza played. The irony was Zaragoza played with Madrdid's attacking style in Madrid. If it was not for the talented Iker the score line would have been some thing like 2-4 or maybe worse 2-8. Iker Casillas was stringing up saves one after other and when he was beaten (the only time), the post came for his rescue.

Madrid has been saved numerous time by the numero uno of Spain. For this precise reason I don't see Madrid winning the Champions League this season. With such a fragile defensive line, they may not match up to the powers of Milan or Arsenal. Niether do Barcelona. If it was not for him, Barcelona would have escaped with a draw at Nou Camp. And he may be big factor which will keep Barcelona's hope of regaining the Championship at bay

Sevilla Up Next

Rikaard will be looking for a good result in the first leg Spanish Cup match against Sevilla. Barcelona will be hoping that the result will be a repeat of their League match. Sevilla has been the team of La Liga for the last two seasons, but surprisingly were finding it difficult to maintain their high standards this season. But recently they were able to string up a series of good result and this along with the fact that its a home match for them, barcelona is not the best travellers should give them ample hope to win the match.

Barcelona itself is having some sort of problem, the last time they face a tough opposition (Madrid) they failed miserably. This is a cup they failed to win for some time now, that also will not adda any confidence to the bunch. But the most significant factor might be their hero of earlier victory against Sevilla, Lionel Messi is missing. But still they can produce excellent football. If last match is some indication, I believe Henry is slowly gelling with the side. Bojan needs to start ahead of Giovanni as I think he has more energy to offer. Edmillson should take Toure's position.

The main question in Rijkaard's mind will be "Whether I should go For a win?" - My answer will be employ a defensive strategy like last game and try to get out of there with a draw or worst a single goal loss. The two stage ties needs to be planned well.

Mallorca-0, Barcelona -2 , A Small Step Forward

With the not so comfortable victory against Mallorca, Barcelona seems to have put their derailing quest for the championship back on track.In a match were goal scoring oppurtunities came at a premium Barcelona emerged victorious with Marquez and Eto getting in to the scoresheet. There were lots of talks inside and outside the Barcelona camp about playing with style and playing with substance. It looks like players have chosen to play with more substance rather than style.

For the first hour of the match defence were completely on top. Both the defence looked extremely organized and were too good in cutting down any opposition chance. The first googd chance of the match went to Mallorca with Daniel Guiza showing some good skills, rounding off Milito only to see his shot go wide. He should have done better, atleast tested the Valdes. Some minutes later Iniesta returned Mallorca the favour by shooting wide after dribbling in to the box. A goal there would have changed the complexion of the complete match itself. Much of the first half the pattern continued but ended with Xavi missing from an Eto'o Pass. After the break, Bojan was introduced in place of Gudjonsen. But that didn't seem to improve a thing until from nowhere Xavi's corner found Marquez. With a Goal lead Rijkaard introduced Henry in place of Giovani and Edmilson in place of Yaya. With the goal lead Barca looked more confident and upped the tempo a little with Henry finding the net, but adjudged offside. To put the icing on the cake Eto striked in the injury time to make it 0-2. With three points in the bag barcelona will be keenly hoping madrid to start slipping soon.

Barcelona may not have played the most attractive football in the match , but still it was effective. Its good to win away from home as it will help them climb the table above all the players will be confident and motivated. There may be some criticism from the fans and media for not playing with flair. As far as i am concerned, I don't care a damn if Barcelona continues to win. Always remember that we cannot win beautifull all the time, we should be prepared to win ugly( i mean really ugly). Secondly once the players can put together a string of victories their confidence will be high and slowly the flair in their game will return as twice as effective it was early. As far the players effort were concerned everyone had a good game( not great game). Henry looked like the time off the game has helped him a lot. Bojan looked very natural. Iniesta squandered some chances but as usual he looked very good on the pitch. Marquez looke dlike the best Barca player on the pitch.

2nd Goal by Eto(Don't Miss it):

Mallorca vs Barcelona: Golazo de Eto'o
Uploaded by Gazpacho27

Highlights Of the Match:

Line Up:
Mallorca (4-4-2):
25 G. Lux,7 F. Varela,17 D. Navarro,16 J. Nunes,3 F. Navarro,23 J. Manuel Gutierrez,4 G. Pereyra,6 A. Basinas,18 J. Arango,10 A. Ibagaza,14 D. Guiza

Barcelona (4-3-3):
1 V. Valdes,5 C. Puyol,4 R. Marquez,3 G. Milito,22 E. Abidal,6 X. Hernandez,24 Y. Toure,7 E. Gudjohnsen,17 G. Dos Santos,9 S. Eto’o,8 A. Iniesta